Tag Archives: partners

Any involvement in ministry has its ups and downs.
In Fort Dauphin, we just wrapped up a week of ups! Sixty brothers and sisters in Christ came together every day this past week to learn under the teachings of a seminary professor and pastor from the States. In the mornings, they studied and discussed Christian Ethics. These sessions included much conversation about cultural influences on a Christian’s life. In the end, the Word of God is the plumb-line. Each afternoon, they looked at God’s grace. What an amazing study with unfathomable reason, but for grace! These individuals represent 25 churches that have been planted in recent years. There was not enough space for all our partners, but these individuals will go back and teach their disciples and congregations what they’ve learned. Pray they will continue to ponder the truths they learned as they teach others and spur one another on. Also, praise God for all he’s done and is going to do in the Antandroy and Antanosy regions!

Making disciples is a journey. It takes each believer along a learning curve that is continually ebbing, flowing and growing. The vastness of strategies, ideas, trainings and books that offer suggestions for what’s best can be overwhelming. In the midst of all these amazing ideas and tools, one truth remains, the plumb line, the best strategy, the Word of God. As missionaries and national partners go out proclaiming the gospel and seeking to make disciples it’s important to take many things into consideration including context, reproducibility, longevity and end goal. It’s also just as important to know “what’s next”. Each time a new relationship is formed or a group meets, the missionary or national partner, every believer, should ask themselves, “what’s next?”
In Fort Dauphin and the surrounding bush villages much thought, discussion and planning has gone into this process of making disciples. There is continuing discussion on best practices and consideration for what needs to change. Two years ago a group consisting of the six leaders over Antandroy and Antanosy work met together. Recently, another group of leaders over these same two regions met. This time there were 30 leaders. The gospel is spreading. Disciples are making disciples. Workers and leaders alike are rising up. As you pray for this work to continue, don’t forget to ask yourself, “What’s Next?”

The people were all smiling as they came out to greet the missionaries driving into their cactus lined village. The national partner arriving with the missionaries made introductions as they all sat down on the woven mats laid over the dirt. The nationals and missionaries exchanged proper greetings. The missionaries asked, “Do you want to hear about Jesus Christ and sing a song to God?”
“Yes!” the villagers responded.
“What song do you know?”
“We don’t know any songs to sing to God. Teach us.”
The missionaries proceeded to teach them a song along with the gospel. A few people showed interest in following Jesus.
Within a few months, as the national partner continued visiting and sharing with the people, many came to Christ. They were hungry for more stories from the Scriptures and insights into how to follow Jesus.The missionaries were able to visit every once in a while, but the national partner was key in meeting with the villagers regularly. The time came for the new converts to follow in baptism. In the deserts of South Madagascar water is scarce. Finding a water hole deep enough to baptize is a huge challenge. On this day, the villagers and missionaries walked 10 miles to get to the ocean and back. The lead missionary, along with a few volunteers from Louisiana, stood on the shore surrounded by the new converts and modeled how to baptize. After a little more teaching and verification that the people understood what this step in their faith meant, the leaders of the village took each new convert one by one and baptized them! The people from the village sang praises to God and celebrated with a meal on the beach; rejoicing in this step of obedience in their new found faith.
Teachings continued and the new converts gained more and more understanding of the Scriptures. After some time the missionaries were asked to come back and teach about taking the Lord’s Supper. The people were all smiling again as they came out to greet the missionaries driving into their village. The missionaries had permission to set up a tent and stay for the night. They got the tent up and began fellowshipping with the people. Some women missionaries were cooking with the women in the cooking house. The missionary kids were teaching the village children how to play hop scotch and the men were sitting and beginning to discuss the steps to take the Lord’s Supper, described by the Scriptures. It was an incredible experience to be a part of these milestones in the lives of new Christians who had no preconceived ideas of what these actions should look like. From the time they confessed Christ as their Lord and Savior and learned songs to sing to praise him, to following him in baptism and then learning what it means to remember the Lord through taking the Lord’s Supper, the missionaries were determined to teach them to do everything based upon what the Scriptures say.

Pray the people in the village of Amby will grow in their faith according to the Scriptures. Pray they will weigh every action in light of the Scriptures and that they will be able to stand firm in the midst of persecution and temptation. Pray for the people in the church to grow stronger in their faith and be diligent in sharing the gospel with their neighbors.

Every rut, every rock, every turn made my brain feel like it was bouncing inside my skull. At the end of the longest day, my whole body felt out of sorts and I wasn’t sure if my head would stop hurting. I never felt like I was in such bad condition that I needed medical attention, but a few times I wondered, “What in the world are we doing!” You see, a few weeks ago our family spent two weeks traveling around the Southern part of Madagascar visiting national partners, new churches, teammates and taking care of a few errands. We we’re on the road anywhere from 4-11 hours in a single day with some days interspersed of little to no travel. The saying rang true for us that the people are “unreached for a reason.” The roads are terrible! There are a few nice stretches but others were nearly impassable. As you pray for the people of South Madagascar today, ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers from the fields. Pray more nationals would continue to evangelize and make disciples. We’re seeing the beginnings of a movement, but it won’t come without resistance from the enemy. Pray these national believers will be able to stand firm as each and their respective families are persecuted and face spiritual warfare like never before.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Matthew 28:19

A Testimony from a National Believer

“The Lord is revealing himself in a big way. Three weeks ago (I) sensed the Lord was telling (me) to call one of (my) former employees, *Ashley, who I lost contact with for three years. I felt the Lord was telling me to tell her “My Story” and “The Gospel”. I had met Jesus during the same period that we lost contact.

So I called her and met with her down in the South. I shared with her and she was so excited about Jesus because she met Him about the same time as me but she was sad because she didn’t feel that she could fit into the local church because of bad teaching, mainly prosperity gospel. Of course, I had to ask her the “three questions” as she was so thirsty for the Word: when and where can we meet, and who will you invite?

She gathered about 12 people in her mother’s modest hindu home a week later and two people gave their lives to Jesus and there were also many “yellow lights” (people who are hesitant to accept the teaching of the Bible and/or Jesus). The week after, we started to teach them about obedience to Jesus Christ and they accepted Jesus and were baptised that same week.

From the public baptism at a local beach, a cleaning lady (hindu) from the public toilet saw the baptism and was compelled to know more. So she asked *Ashley about what was happening. Even as an immature believer, *Ashley began to share her faith for the first time and asked the “three questions”. Now the cleaning lady is open for more. (I) was so humbled by the power of the Holy Spirit, at that moment, in the life of *Ashley.

Please join (us) in prayer for many more laborers like *Ashley.”

Pray for trainers who instill immediately in the DNA of a new believer the command of Christ: “Therefore GO and Make Disciples”! We are so excited as we see the simple commands of Christ obeyed and the fruit that emanates as a result.

Like much of Africa, the entire region of southern Madagascar has been experiencing an inconceivable drought and subsequent famine. As a result, many have died, are severely malnourished and have no hope of future harvests. Some villages have sold the last of their livestock and are surviving off of bitter, often poisonous, manioc.

In October, we partnered with BGR and coordinated the “Seeds of Life” seed distribution project. Through the sacrificial giving of Southern Baptists and others all over the world, we were approved to help aid in this time of crisis by providing seed to the Mahafaly people, in hopes of a reproducible harvest next year. Despite being limited on preparation time, God heard our prayers and provided 165 tons of seed. If you are like me, and struggle to understand how much 165 tons really is, imagine about fifty-five elephants! You can imagine what it took logistically to get that much seed way out to the remote Mahafaly villages!

Our first generation church leaders played a major role in the planning and implementation of the seed distribution. They received training from BGR on distribution protocols and worked hard to develop an evangelism strategy. Each first generation church/village was given the seed for their village, along with the bags of seeds for the villages of their second, third and fourth generation churches. Each first generation church took seed to the second generation church and helped them distribute within their village. This continued on with the third and fourth generations.

In all, we were able to distribute over 3,000 (50 kilogram) bags of corn, cowpeas and peanuts to 55 villages with a combined population of nearly 41,000 people! The Gospel was spread to thousands who have never heard God’s saving message and over 700 people have received Christ. Over thirty new villages have new groups of believers meeting!

Now that the people have seed to plant, please pray God would send rain to the dry, parched land. Pray for a bountiful harvest, not only in their fields, but also among their hearts. Pray for many more to come to Christ and for the believers to continue to grow in their faith and commitment.

The Sekhukune Bapedi are an unreached people group living in Limpopo Province, South Africa. They are a sister tribe to the Tswana of South Africa. For several years, IMB missionaries along with partners from the U.S. have been working to strengthen existing Baptist work in the area. Recently, believers in a remote village were trained to share their faith with others. The Baptist pastor in this village was encouraged by the new enthusiasm of his church members.

PLEASE PRAY for a Pastors’ Summit being held in Diphagane (dee-pa-ha-nee) on Saturday, Sept. 12th! First, ask that the pastors in the area will make every effort to attend the Summit. Second, pray that the presenters will effectively communicate the heart of the Father for the lost among the Sekhukune Bapedi. Finally, ask that these pastors will carry the vision of “making disciples who make disciples” back to their people & their churches.

In His teachings the islands will put their hope. Isaiah 42:4

Tessa of SW Mada team writes: I’ve realized this last week how richly blessed I am in partners in the Gospel here. There is one Malagasy couple, and a few youth girls and guys from our churches here who I work with often . . . and they amaze me! The couple are self-sacrificing pioneers, with a truly God-given call and wisdom for the people group they work with. The youth are servant-hearted, truly supporting me in spite of my inadequate use of their language, and limited understanding of their culture. Over the last year, as I’ve gotten to know these people, I can see tangibly how our actual understanding of each other’s speech has increased—we understand one another better linguistically. At the same time, it seems there’s been a deeper heart-knitting, so that we really see how to work alongside one another . . . only God could form these partnerships!

– PRAY for Tom and I’s trip to the forest the first week of December, that God would continue to lead us in His plan for these villages – Acts 12:24.

– PRAY that those in the forest will submit to Jesus Christ alone.

– PRAY that believers will be protected against spiritual warfare and persecution in their villages.

– PRAY that Jesus would continue to use believers in the forest to spread His fragrance in dark places.